Wildlife and National Parks

Ubajara Caves
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Long and hot truck day with a lot of time spent sleeping the night off before for most of the group.  Arrived in Ubajara (means broken canoe in local indian language) late afternoon and pitched my tent for the last night of camping.  The campsite is located just outside the park entrance and that night was also used for a wedding  which was heldat 7pm that night and then the buffet which finished at 11pm. I also strongly suspect this to be a christian campsite give the strong Jesus messages placed around the place.  As the wedding was on there was no where to go so a few of us played a game of monopoly and then went for a walk to find the local pub.  Didn´t find it but apparently it was down some dirt road.

Sealion?
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Following day headed out into the Ubajara National Park and down the cable car to the famous Ubajara Caves. The caves consist of nine chambers with strange limestone formations and extend over 0.5km into the side of a mountain.  The drop in the cable car is quite far and it is nestled in the rainforest surrounded by high stone mountains.  A local guide takes you around the caves, although English is not spoken, and here you can see the formation of many figures such as snakes, sharks, dinosaurs skeleton, and roses amongst others.  The caves are well lit and are also home to cave bats and cave toads that live in the underground river.  Afterwards, headed back although further walks can be done to the waterfalls and around but as the thunderstorms were coming in thought it might be best to leave this as the paths can be steep and muddy. Headed the short drive to Sete Cuidades National Park, just two hours away.  Arrived at the campsite which is located near the entrance but is far from town.  Spent part of the afternoon playing pool avoiding the thunder storms and after dinner played cards and chilled.  Due to our driver been ill, we are not going very far in the next few days.

Ubajara Caves
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Following morning after a little lie in, went for a last chance of sunbathing by the now filled pool.  Very hot day but nice to relax although the presence of the many chameleons can interupt this.  They aren´t annoying but very large and friendly, at times, coming very close to where you are lying.  They are also bad chameleons as they remained green and didn´t change colour - perhaps as they didn´t feel threatened.  There were opportunities to visit the Sete Cuidades National Park which is different to its neighbour and has cave painting but due to the late start and the heat of the day, plus the walk to get there I decided to give this a miss.  In the afternoon, the thunderstorms set in again and the power kept coming and going throughout the night.  Our driver, Euan, is feeling a bit better tomorrow and hence we will be heading off as planned. Very relaxing time and the last time this will happen until Columbia.